


It's been a long year since we last spoke

by smaragdbird



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Talking, difference of opinions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 05:46:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10587669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: At the end of the war, when all it said and done, Galen talks with Saw about his abandonment of Jyn and Bodhi's torture and how Galen would've never trusted Saw with them if he had known.They had been friends once was war had a habit of changing things





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this ](http://rogueonekink.dreamwidth.org/1084.html?thread=667452#cmt667452) prompt

When Saw Gerrera had asked to die on Onderon the Alliance High Command had granted his wish. He had been a close ally for a long time and he deserved to return to the home he had given everything for before his death. It was a wonder he had held on for so long anyway. 

Galen had volunteered to go with the transport without telling Jyn or Bodhi about it. They wouldn’t have wanted him to go but there were a few things he needed to ask Saw. 

“Saw”, Galen said when he approached the bed. Saw was dying that much was evident even for someone without a medical degree but then again Saw had been supposedly dying for years and yet had stubbornly clung to life. Galen saw the man he had once called his friend, the man he had trusted Jyn’s and Bodhi’s lives with. The man he had apparently never really known at all.

“Galen Erso”, Saw wheezed. “You have come to see me die?”

“I have come to talk”, Galen corrected him. “About Jyn. And about Bodhi.”

“She turned out well, didn’t she?” Saw asked. “The boy….well he’s an Imperial. Can’t trust those.”

“You abandoned Jyn when she was sixteen”, Galen replied. “And you tortured Bodhi for nothing.”

“She was ready”, Saw said. “There was nothing else I could’ve taught her. And people were asking questions. Questions about you. Questions why the daughter of a highly decorated Imperial scientist would be fighting for the rebellion. Questions if she was a mole. “

“Jyn was eight years old when Krennic imprisoned me and murdered Lyra. Why would people think Jyn would work for the Empire?”

“People don’t think, Galen, you know that”, Saw replied. “They believe what they want to believe.”

“Like you wanted to believe Bodhi was a threat?”

Saw made a dismissive noise. “He’s an Imperial.”

“Many of the rebels are”, Galen replied. “People who lived and worked in the Empire until they realized it was wrong and decided to do something about it. People like Bodhi.”

“He was not the first ‘defector’ to come to try and kill me. I had no reason to trust his word.”

“But you also didn’t trust my word. If I had known you wouldn’t, I would’ve never sent him to you.”

“You’re an Imperial too”, Saw pointed out, coughing. “He delivered the message and the Death Star was destroyed. What more do you want?”

“I wanted my daughter to be safe. I wanted Bodhi to be rewarded for his courage. Instead Jyn doesn’t trust anyone and cannot commit to anything”, Galen couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice anymore. “And Bodhi wakes up screaming from nightmares of the torture you inflicted on him.”

“You should’ve protected them better.”

“Or I never should’ve trusted you”, Galen said, shaking his head. “I didn’t see what Orson really was before it was too late and it seems I didn’t see what you really were either.”

“Is that why you’re here? To accuse me of your shortcomings?”

“No, I came here because I had hoped that Jyn and Bodhi had been wrong. That there was some sort of explanation for what you have done. But they were right all along.”

Saw’s eyes narrowed. “You know nothing of the rebellion. Of the life I had to lead because of your Empire!”

“No, because I was locked in an ivory tower for fifteen years without seeing the sun once, working on a way to destroy the worst weapon imaginable while trusting my ‘friend’ to keep safe the people I love.” Galen stood up. “Our situations are no comparable, you’re right. But I didn’t betray your trust. You did.”

He was almost at the door when Saw said his name and Galen turned around once more. “Tell Jyn I’m proud of her. Will you do that, Galen?”

Galen nodded. Even if he had abandoned her Saw had raised Jyn as much as he had. She was his daughter as much as she was Galen’s and Lyra’s. “I hope you find peace”, Galen said and this time he did leave without Saw trying to stop him.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me [ here](http://smaragdbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


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